Survivors Speaking: Eleanor and Dan Howington

"This has enriched our lives very much, this cancer experience," she said in a conversation with her husband, Dan, late last month for our series.

That doesn't mean it was easy. As Dan explained, it felt as if a bomb dropped on them when they got the news.

"I was in total shock," Eleanor recalled.

That difficult time more than 20 years ago still has an impact on their lives every day, the Watkinsville couple agreed.

"It made us aware - acutely aware - of immortality, really, and of each other," Dan said. "And that you need to just go with each day."

Dan had his own bout with prostate cancer a little less than a decade ago, but Eleanor's cancer experience is what still brings up strong emotions for him.

"Dan, you went out soliciting prayers from people you knew, and their churches, to pray for me," Eleanor recalled.

"That's right - I drove around to different churches and left notes on the door," he said.

"We really believe in prayer," Eleanor said. "And no matter what the outcome is going to be, you know there's this group of people praying for you and praying for your highest good."

Feeling the support of prayer and living in the moment, Eleanor added, helped her through.

"I was really blessed in that about six months before my diagnosis," she said, "I had joined a 12-step group, and was working a program where the main theme was learning to live your life one day at a time, and to be present in the moment," she said. "And to this day, I still work at this - living my life in the moment, right where I am."

"There's no promise for tomorrow," added Dan. "You don't know what's going to happen. ... So you have to live moment by moment, day by day."

Embracing those moments, the two play music together - Dan took up guitar and banjo a few years back, and Eleanor plays drums. They dance and love to listen to music, too. Tap dancing is something that's on Eleanor's bucket list (not Dan's, he said with a laugh).

They also love being outside, walking together. In nature, Eleanor said, is where she feels closest to God.

And that's part of what helps her live in the moment.

Reflecting on some things in her past do bring her a smile she's happy to share, though. She remembers little details during her bout with cancer that gave her joy in the midst of her fear.

"One thing that was so life-saving to me was that we were new grandparents of twin boys, and the boys were about a year old when I was diagnosed with cancer," Eleanor said.

"And I had this precious little 3-by-5 inch photograph of the two of them, and I would take it with me every three weeks when I went in for my chemo drip, and that little photograph would sit right up there on the machine, and it brought me such heartwarming feelings of love and gratefulness," she said.

"I think I've learned to walk away with more gratitude - I know I have," she added. "And to live my life in gratitude. And that, too, is a daily thing; being grateful for whatever is for the day."